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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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19  1911    *; 


/^NE     HUNDRED     AND 

^^  SEVENTY-FIVE  YEARS 
IN    THE   LIFE   OF  A   CHURCH 

%f6totical    Setnton 

DELIVERED  ON  THE  ONE  HUN- 
DRED AND  SEVENTY-FIFTH  ANNI- 
VERSARY OF  THE  ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST 
IN  HASSANIMISCO  PLANTATION, 
NOW  GRAFTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 
DECEMBER  THE  THIRTIETH,  1906 
BY  SAMUEL  ALLEN  *^ARLOW, 
PASTOR  OF  CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH,     AT     GRAFTON,     MASS. 


%/CAL  SEU-^' 


The  Davis  Press 
Worcester 


THE  town   of   Grafton   occupies   a   portion    of 
territory  which  used  to  be  called  the  Nipmuck 
country.    The  Nipmuck  Indians  of  which  the 
Hassanimisco  Indians  were  a  branch,  seem  to  have  been 
less  warlike  than  many  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  and 
the  Rev   John  Ehot  who  commenced  his  labors  at 
Natick  in  1646  among  the  Indians  of  that  place,  found 
them  ready  to  Usten  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
The  Nipmuck  Indians  were  most  friendly  with  the 
Natick  Indians,  and  Ehot  in  a  letter  to  the  Corpora- 
tion of  London  in  1649,  describing  his  work  among 
the   Indians   says:    "A  Nipnet   Sachem  hath  sub- 
mitted himself  to  the  Lord,  and  much  desires  one  of 
our  chief  ones  to  Uve  with  him  and  those  that  are 
with  him."    Within  a  few  years  after  this  the  great 
Apostle  to  the  New  England  Indians  visited  this 
section,  for  in  1654  the  General  Court,  on  the  petition 
of  Ehot,  set  this  town  apart  for  the  use  of  the  Indians. 
For  a  number  of  years  after  this  Ehot  often 
visited  this  locahty,  and  carried  on  his  work  with 
such  fruitfulness   that   on  September   23,  1671,  an 
Indian  church  was  formed  in  the  town,  which  was  the 
second  organization  of    the  kind  in  Massachusetts. 
The  church  was  organized  by  Ehot  himself,  or  by 
some  one  acting  under  his  direction.    The  church 
grew   in   numbers,    and   the   Indian  reservation   ot 
Hassanimisco  came  to  be  the  center  of  a  large  and 
wide-spread  Christian  influence. 


A  school  was  established  for  the  study  of  the 
Bible  in  the  Indian  language.  The  chief  ruler  of  the 
Nipmuck  country  lived  here.  Maj.  Daniel  Gookin, 
who  was  a  friend  of  the  Indians,  visited  Hassani- 
misco  in  company  with  Ehot  in  1674,  and  gives 
us  the  following  picture  of  this  interesting  Indian 
village :  "This  village  is  not  inferior  unto  any  of  the 
Indian  plantations  for  rich  land  and  plenty  of  meadow, 
being  well  tempered  and  watered." 

"Their  ruler  is  named  Ananeakin,  a  sober  and 
discreet  man.  Their  teacher's  name  is  Tuckappa- 
willin,  his  brother,  a  pious  and  able  man,  and  apt  to 
teach.  Their  aged  father  whose  name  I  remember 
not,  is  a  grave  and  sober  Christian,  and  deacon  of 
the  church.  They  have  a  brother  that  Hves  in  the 
town,  called  James,  that  was  bred  among  the  English, 
and  employed  as  a  pressman  in  printing  the  Indian 
Bible,  who  can  read  well,  and  as  I  take  it  write  also. 
The  father,  mother,  brothers  and  their  wives,  are 
all  reputed  pious  persons.  Here  they  have  a  meeting 
house  for  the  worship  of  God  after  the  Enghsh  fash- 
ion of  building,  and  two  or  three  other  houses  after 
the  same  mode,  but  they  fancy  not  greatly  to  live  in 
them.  Their  way  of  living  is  by  husbandry  and 
keeping  cattle  and  swine;  wherein  they  do  as  well  or 
rather  better  than  any  other  Indians,  but  are  yet 
very  far  short  of  the  English  both  in  diligence  and 
providence.  There  are  in  full  communion  in  the 
church  and  living  in  town  about  sixteen  men  and 
women,  and  about  thirty  baptized  persons;  but 
there  are  several  others,  members  of  this  church, 
that  live  in  other  places.   This  is  a  hopeful  plantation." 

So  great  was  the  educational  and  missionary 
activity  of  this  Indian  conmiunity  that  in  1674,  three 

6 


years  after  the  organization  of  the  church,  seven  new 
villages  of  praying  Indians  were  formed  in  different 
places  around  Hassanimisco.  One  of  the  members 
of  the  native  church  in  this  town,  whose  EngUsh 
name  was  James  the  Printer,  and  afterwards,  James 
Printer,  rendered  Eliot  immense  service  in  assisting 
him  to  set  up  the  type  of  his  famous  Indian  Bible. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Indian  school  at  Cambridge, 
and  apprenticed  to  Samuel  Greene  to  learn  the  printer's 
trade.  Ehot,  in  a  letter  to  Hon.  Robert  Boyle  of 
London,  1682,  accords  him  honorable  mention  for 
his  great  service.  Afterwards,  in  1709,  Printer  and 
a  son  of  Samuel  Greene  pubhshed  a  Psalter  in  the 
Indian  and  English  languages.  James  Printer  at 
one  time  served  the  native  church  as  a  teacher. 
The  period  upon  which  our  attention  has  been  fixed 
was  one  of  peace,  prosperty,  growth  and  influence 
for  the  httle  Indian  reservation  of  Hassanimisco. 
But  dark  and  troublous  days  were  in  store  for  its 
people.  This  is  not  the  occasion,  however,  to  describe 
at  length  the  calamities  and  sufferings  which  befell 
the  community. 

The  story  of  King  Philip  and  his  disastrous 
war  with  the  whites  moves  one  deeply  with  its  pathos 
and  horror.  PhiHp  was  the  son  of  the  noble  hearted 
Massasoit,  who,  with  his  braves,  marched  to  Ply- 
mouth between  three  and  four  months  after  the 
Pilgrims  landed,  and  entered  into  a  league  with 
the  new  colony  which  lasted  in  an  unbroken  friend- 
ship for  over  forty  years.  Phihp  himself  at  first 
assumed  a  friendly  attitude  toward  the  English. 
The  hanging  of  three  of  his  own  tribe,  however,  by 
the  white  men,  without  sufficient  justification  in  his 
eyes,  and  the  deep  seated  disHke  in  his  breast  of  the 

7 


encroachments  upon  Indian  territory  by  the  English, 
and  his  dread  of  their  future  supremacy,  as  well  as 
the  war  spirit  of  his  young  men,  decided  him  at  last 
to  take  up  arms  against  the  whites.  There  could 
be  but  one  outcome  of  such  a  struggle.  In  the  end 
the  English  were  sure  to  conquer.  But  it  was  not 
an  easily  won  victory.  The  war  was  wide-spread 
and  terribly  destructive.  The  English  suffered 
grievously.  Whole  villages  were  wiped  out  of 
existence.  Fire  and  massacre  wrought  destruction 
and  death  in  scores  of  happy,  peaceful  and  prosperous 
towns.  Women  and  children  were  burned  in  their 
homes,  or  wantonly  killed;  and  the  farmer  never 
knew  in  what  hour  his  foe  might  shoot  him  down, 
or  spring  unseen  from  some  ambush.  In  this 
dreadful  war  of  races  a  dozen  towns  were  completely 
destroyed,  and  scores  suffered  more  or  less  by  fire 
and  massacre.  "We  will  fight  to  the  last  man  before 
we  will  become  servants  to  the  English"  was  the  cry 
of  one  of  the  great  chiefs.  The  tide  of  war  began  at 
last  to  turn,  and  Phihp  found  himself,  Uttle  by  httle, 
deserted  by  aUies.  He  became  a  fugitive,  hiding  in 
caves,  forests,  and  swamps.  When  his  wife  and 
son  were  taken  prisoners  he  cried  out  in  despair  and 
sorrow,  "My  heart  breaks.  Now  I  am  ready  to  die." 
Not  long  after  this  Phihp  was  shot  by  a  traitor  Indian 
while  hiding  in  a  swamp,  and  his  head  carried  to 
Plymouth  where  it  was  exhibited  on  a  pole  for  a 
number  of  years.  I  am  told  that  one  of  the  Indian 
skirmishes  during  King  Phihp's  war  was  fought  on 
land  now  belonging  to  Mr.  David  L.  Fiske. 

The  village  of  Hassanimisco  suffered  severely  in 
the  Indian  uprising.  A  large  number  of  the  Christian 
Indians  of  their  own  free  will,  or  by   compulsion, 

8 


joined  the  forces  of  King  Philip.  It  is  just  possible 
that  "blood  which  is  thicker  than  water"  may- 
have  had  something  to  do  with  their  casting  in 
their  lot  with  their  own  race.  Some  of  the  natives, 
however,  remained  loyal  to  the  English  throughout 
the  war;  while  others,  after  fighting  against  the 
whites  for  a  time,  returned  to  their  former  friendly 
relations.  Those  who  remained  hostile  were  punished 
when  captured.  The  chief  of  the  Nipmucks,  who 
lived  here,  and  through  whose  influence  some  of  the 
Christian  Indians  were  persuaded  to  fight  against 
the  whites,  was  taken  captive  and  carried  to  Boston 
where  he  was  put  to  death. 

Thus  the  prosperous,  and  Christian  plantation  of 
the  Hassanimisco  Indians  was  overwhelmed  in  utter 
desolation  and  ruin;  and  the  church  which  had  sent 
its  bright  rays  of  Christianizing  influence  abroad  into 
the  surrounding  darkness,  and  has  helped  to  make 
the  name  of  Eliot  imperishable,  was  so  broken  and 
scattered  that  it  ceased  to  have  an  existence. 

A  number  of  years  after  this  devastating  war, 
a  mere  handful  of  Indians  wandered  back  to  this 
hilltop  where,  in  other  days,  their  wigwams  clustered 
in  a  happy  and  unmolested  settlement,  and  the 
sound  of  Christian  prayer  and  worship  floated  out 
over  these  hills  and  valleys.  In  1698,  twenty-one 
years  after  King  Philip's  war,  according  to  the  Eeport 
of  Commissioners  of  this  Province,  there  were  only- 
five  Indian  families  living  on  the  old  Hassanimisco 
reservation.  James  Pi  inter,  who  had  rendered 
Eliot  such  fine  service  in  the  printing  of  his  Indian 
Bible,  was  one  of  the  Indians  then  living  in  this  toM^n. 
He  was  a  man  of  unusual  intelligence,  and  of  upright 
character,  and  was  the  teacher  of  the  little  community 

9 


which  had  gathered  here.  The  Indians  now  were 
without  a  church  or  a  school,  and  their  numbers 
increased  but  Httle.  There  sprang  up  a  movement, 
about  this  time,  on  the  part  of  the  Enghsh  settlers 
in  this  town,  and  in  Shrewsbury,  Marlborough,  and 
other  places,  to  secure  possession  of  the  land  still 
owned  by  the  surviving  members  of  the  old  Hass- 
animisco  tribe.  For  two  or  three  years  the  subject 
was  discussed  by  those  interested  in  the  project,  and 
the  matter  was  at  last  laid  before  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  in  the  form  of  a  petition  by  inhabi- 
tants of  Shrewsbury,  Marlborough,  Concord,  Ipswich 
and  other  towns.  The  General  Court  appointed  a 
committee  to  look  into  the  matter  and  report.  This 
committee  visited  Hassanimisco,  consulted  with  the 
members  of  the  tribe,  and  brought  back  the  report 
that  the  Indians  were  wiUing  to  sell  all  land  which 
they  did  not  care  to  cultivate.  After  various  delays 
the  General  Court  in  December,  1727,  granted  the 
petitioners  the  right  to  purchase,  and  the  Indians 
to  sell,  some  7,500  acres  upon  certain  conditions. 
The  forty  proprietors  were  to  pay  to  Trustees  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Court,  the  sum  of  £2500,  the 
interest  of  which  was  to  be  paid  to  the  members  of 
the  tribe  as  the  General  Court  should  order  and 
direct.  The  deed  of  purchase  also  gave  to  the  Indians 
the  farms  which  were  already  under  their  cultivation, 
"together  with  one  hundred  acres  more  of  land  there, 
to  be  the  present  Indian  Proprietors',  their  heirs 
and  assigns  forever."  Of  this  land  there  now  remains, 
on  Brigham  Hill,  some  three  or  four  acres,  in  the 
possession  of  James  L.  and  Lewis  S.  Ciscoe,  the 
descendants  of  the  Hassanimisco  Indians. 

10 


On  March  19,  1727,  the  transfer  of  the  land  by 
the  Indians  was  consummated,  and  Ami  Printer, 
Moses  Printer,  Peter  Muckamaug  and  Sarah  his  wife, 
besides  five  other  native  Indians  made  their  marks 
opposite  their  names,  and  ground  which  had  been 
trodden  by  the  moccasined  feet  of  the  Red  Man,  passed 
into  the  possession  of  a  race  which  akeady  had  com- 
menced to  mould  into  fresh  and  original  forms  the 
life  of  this  Western  continent. 

Certain  conditions  were  imposed  upon  those 
who  had  bought  the  Indian  lands.  The  white  pro- 
prietors were  required  "to  make  a  settlement  in  the 
town  of  forty  English  families;  each  of  whom  should 
build  a  good  habitable  house,  and  break  up  and  fence 
at  least  four  acres  of  land  within  three  years."  They 
were  required,  also,  ''That  within  ye  space  of  three 
years,  they  build  and  finish  a  meeting  house  for  ye 
pubhck  worship  of  God,  and  build  a  school  house  for 
ye  instruction  as  weU  of  ye  Indians  as  Enghsh  chil- 
dren, and  settle  a  learned  Orthodox  Minister  and 
Schoo'  master  among  them;  and  yt  all  ye  above 
articles  shall  be  without  charge  to  ye  Indian  natives." 

The  meeting-house  was  built  within  the  next 
three  or  four  years  and  was  first  used  for  religious 
services  and  town  meetings  in  the  winter  of  1730,  or 
the  early  spring  of  1731.  The  school-house  was 
built  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  The  new 
settlement  prospered  and  grew  in  numbers  and  its 
inhabitants  thinking  that  it  had  become  of  sufficient 
size  and  importance  to  become  a  town,  petitioned 
the  General  Court  that  it  might  be  constituted  a 
separate  town.  On  April  17,  1735,  between  seven 
and  eight  years  after  its  purchase  from  the  Indians, 
the  House  of  Representatives   passed  an  act  author- 

11 


izing  and  empowering  "the  Freeholders  and  other 
qualified  voters  to  assemble  to  make  choice  of  Town 
Officers."  The  next  day,  April  18,  the  act  received 
the  endorsement  of  Governor  J.  Belcher,  and  Council 
as  follows:  "Ordered,  That  the  plantation  of  Hass- 
animisco,  in  the  county  of  Worcester,  as  the  same  is 
hereafter  bounded  and  described,  be  and  hereby  is 
set  off  and  constituted  a  separate  and  distinct  town- 
ship by  the  name  of  Grafton."  It  is  not  known 
exactly  how  the  name  Grafton  came  to  be  given  to 
the  new  town.  It  frequently  happened  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  omitted  the  names  of  the 
new  towns,  in  the  acts  of  corporation,  and  left  the 
omission  to  be  supplied  by  the  Governor  and  council. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  Governor  Belcher  designed 
to  bestow  a  compliment  upon  Charles  Fitz  Roy, 
Duke  of  Grafton,  and  a  grandson  of  Charles  II,  and 
a  man  who  had  possibly  shown,  in  some  way,  an 
interest  in  the  Massachusetts  colony. 

Through  various  vicissitudes  of  a  profoundly 
interesting  character,  we  have  briefly  traced  the 
history  of  the  old  Hassanimisco  plantation.  We 
now  come  to  the  time  when  the  chui'ch  organized 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  ago  by  the  English 
settlers,  began  its  historic  life  as  a  rehgious  and 
spiritual  force  in  the  community.  One  of  the  con- 
ditions upon  which  the  forty  proprietors  secured 
possession  of  the  town  from  the  Indians  was  that  a 
meeting-house  should  be  built  within  three  years, 
and  that  a  "learned  orthodox  minister"  should  be 
settled. 

The  first  meeting-house  stood  near  the  center 
of  our  present  Common,  a  little  to  the  south.  It 
was  a  very  plain  structure,  with  porches  one  story 

12 


and  a  half  high  on  three  sides.  Stairs  led  from  the 
porches  to  the  galleries  on  each  side  of  the  house. 
The  church  was  furnished  at  first  with  only  nine 
or  ten  pews;  benches  being  used  in  the  remaining 
space.  These  pews  resembled  large  boxes,  with 
seats  on  three  sides,  and  they  were  so  high-backed, 
and  shut  in  the  people  from  view  so  completely  that 
they  came  to  be  called  "pits."  The  pulpit  towered 
above  the  people  and  was  equipped  with  a  huge 
sounding  board  which  was  a  constant  source  of  wonder 
to  the  youth  of  the  congregation. 

As  the  deed  of  purchase  required  that  the  Indians 
were  to  be  free  of  all  charge  to  support  the  preaching, 
they  were  seated  after  considerable  discussion  near 
the  entrances  of  the  church.  In  1832  this  meeting- 
house was  removed  from  the  common,  a  short  dis- 
tance west  of  its  old  site,  and  is  now  known  as  the 
"Arcade,"  and  is  used  as  a  dwelling  house  and  a 
business  block. 

On  the  fly  leaf  of  the  first  records  of  the  church 
of  Grafton  one  reads  as  follows:  "A  Book  of  the 
Records  of  the  Church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at 
Hassanimisco  gathered  the  28  of  December  Anno 
Domini  1731."  We  here  touch  the  fountain  head 
of  whatever  history  we,  as  a  church,  have  been 
making  the  past  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
years.  It  is  profoundly  suggestive  to  note  the  name 
by  which  the  first  church  of  Grafton  was  called.  It 
went  under  no  special  or  distinctive  denominational 
name.  It  was,  unquestionably.  Congregational  in  its 
polity;  but  it  was  organized  under  the  simple  and 
comprehensive  name  of  "The  church  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  at  Hassanimisco."  And  this  was  the 
term    used,   in   that    day,    when   referring    to    the 

13 


churches  of  Shrewsbury,  or  Westboro,  and  elsewhere — 
"the  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  or  sometimes, 
in  abbreviation,  "the  church  of  Christ."  The  formal 
organization  of  the  church  is  described  in  the 
Records  under  date  of  December  28,  1731.  It 
reads  as  follows: 

"A  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  being  about 
to  be  gathered  in  this  place,  the  candidates  for  the 
church  were  by  the  Reverend  Elders"  (observe,  please, 
the  use  of  the  word  Elders  as  applied  to  the  ministers) 
"and  beloved  messengers  in  Council  assembled,  desired 
to  bring  their  certificates  from  the  churches  which 
they  respectfully  belonged  unto  which  are  as  follows:" 
Then  follow  the  admission  by  letter  of  different 
persons  from  Ipswich  Hamlet,  Framingham,  Shrews- 
bury, Sutton,  Sudbury,  Cambridge,  Marlborough,  and 
Westborough,  Mass.  The  whole  number  who  were 
admitted  at  this  time   was    twenty  or  twenty-two. 

The  Rev.  Solomon  Prentice,  Pastor-Elect,  united 
by  letter  from  the  church  of  Christ  in  Cambridge. 
The  certificates  having  been  presented,  the  Council 
then  proceeded  to  organize  these  persons  into  the 
church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  Hassanimisco. 
The  following  day,  December  29,  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Prentice  was  ordained  as  pastor  over  the  newly 
organized  church.  The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman  of 
Westborough  offered  the  opening  prayer;  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Appleton  of  Cambridge  preached  the  sermon; 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  of  Framingham  offered  the 
ordaining  prayer;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Loring  of  Sudbury 
gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  the  Rev.  Caleb 
Trowbridge  of  Groton  joined  in  the  laying  on  of  hands. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  in  what  form  the 
members  of  the  first  church  of  Christ  in  Grafton 

14 


embodied  their  religious  and  doctrinal  beliefs.  It 
was,  by  no  means,  an  elaborate  theological  statement. 
It  was  simple,  explicit,  and  more  confessional  and 
experimental  than  is  the  modern  expression  of 
religious  belief.  It  sunnnarized  briefly,  but  compre- 
hensively, the  fundamental  points  around  which  the 
churches  of  Christ  in  New  England  centered  their 
religious  life.  In  the  old  records  of  the  church 
this  statement  of  belief  is  set  forth  under  what 
was  called,  "The  Foundation  Church  Covenant " 
I  will  read  a  few  selections. 

"We,  whose  names  are  herewith  subscribed, 
inliabitants  of  Hassanimisco,  in  New  England, 
knowing  that  we  are  very  prone  to  offend  God  the 
most  high,  both  in  heart  and  life,  through  the  prev- 
alency  of  sin  that  dwelleth  within  us,  and  the  mani- 
fold temptations  from  without  us;  for  which  we  have 
great  reason  to  be  unfeignedly  humble  before  Him 
from  day  to  day,  do  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  with  dependence  upon  the  gracious  assistance 
of  his  holy  spirit,  solemnly  enter  into  a  covenant  with 
God  and  one  another  according  to  God,  as  follows:" 

Seven  articles  of  the  Covenant  then  follow. 
One  reads:  "We  bind  ourselves  to  bring  up  our 
children  and  servants  in  the  knowledge  and  fear  of 
God  by  his  instructions  according  to  our  best  abilities 
and  in  special  by  the  use  of  our  common  orthodox 
Catechism  that  the  true  religion  may  be  maintained 
in  our  families  while  we  Uve;  yea,  and  among  such 
as  shall  live  when  we  are  dead  and  gone." 

The  third  article  says:  "We  promise  to  keep 
close  to  the  truth  of  Christ  endeavoring  with  lively 
affection  towards  it  in  our  hearts  to  defend  it  against 
all  opposers   thereof;  which,   that   we  may   do,  we 

15 


resolve  to  use  the  holy  Scriptures  as  our  Platform 
whereby  we  discern  the  mind  and  will  of  Christ  and 
not  the  new  found  inventions  of  men."  In  the 
fifth  article  those  who  signed  the  covenant  promise 
to  observe  the  two  seals — "Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper."  The  Rev.  Solomon  Prentice  was  settled 
upon  a  salary  of  £90,  which  was  afterwards  increased 
to  £100.  In  a  "Title  of  Real  Estate  on  South  street, 
in  Grafton  Mass.,  from  the  Hassanamesit  Indians  in 
1727  to  Arthur  A.  Simmons  in  1894,"  as  compiled 
with  great  care  by  Mr.  Simmons,  and  which  I  have 
examined  vv^ith  much  interest,  we  learn  that  the 
proprietors  of  the  town  assigned  forty  acres  of  land 
to  Mr.  Prentice.  The  "Minister's  Lott"  as  it  was 
called,  extended  from  the  south  line  of  the  meeting- 
house lot  south  to  a  point  between  the  present  estates 
of  Dr.  Robert  Lilley  and  the  late  Mr.  S.  A.  Forbush. 
The  house  in  which  Mr.  Prentice  lived  stood  between 
the  homes  of  Mrs.  Geo.  W.  Fisher  and  Mr.  Albert 
L.  Fisher.  The  present  parsonage  therefore,  occupies 
a  portion  of  the  original  grant  of  land  to  the  first 
minister  of  this  town. 

The  Rev,  Solomon  Prentice  was  born  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  May  11,  1705,  and  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  1727.  He  was  twenty-six  years 
of  age  when  he  entered  upon  the  pastorate  of  this 
church.  In  1740  George  Whitefield  visited  this 
country,  and  Mr.  Prentice  became  an  ardent  admirer 
of  the  great  Enghsh  evangelist.  It  is  said  his  invita- 
tion to  Whitefield  to  occupy  his  pulpit  created  severe 
criticism,  and  this  act,  together  with  his  liberality 
in  admitting  lay  preachers  into  his  pulpit,  and  also 
certain  extreme  religious  utterances,  led  to  such 
opposition  and  division  among    the    members   that 

16 


a  council  was  called  in  1744  to  consider  the  matter. 
A  large  number  of  charges, — some  thirty  in  all — were 
brought  against  Mr.  Prentice.  None  of  these  charges 
reflected  in  the  slightest  way  upon  his  moral  character. 
They  all  referred  to  certain  expressions  and  pecuUar 
teachings  which  were  regarded  by  the  council  as 
unscriptural  and  erratic.  One  charge  brought  against 
him  was  that  he  asked:  "To  what  purpose  is  it 
to  preach  to  an  unregenerate  man?  To  tell  him  he 
must  not  kill,  must  not  steal,  must  not  do  these  and 
those  things?  For  he  has  no  power  to  resist  them;  for 
he  is  the  devil's  slave  and  vassal,  and  doeth  just  what 
the  devil  would  have  him  do."  This  teaching  was 
considered  by  the  council  as  "carrying  the  matter 
too  far."  Another  charge  was  that  he  had  said, 
"Some  ministers  would  advise  some  persons  in  dis- 
tress to  pray;  which  he  said  was  abominable." 
After  prolonged  and  stormy  sessions,  lasting  for  nine 
days,  the  council,  after  condemning  certain  teachings, 
and  cautioning  him  for  the  future,  finally  decided  to 
exliort  the  disaffected  members  of  the  church  to 
forget  all  past  grievances  and  to  sit  peaceably  under 
the  ministrations  of  Mr.  Prentice.  The  apparently 
amicable  settlement  of  the  difficulties  of  the  church 
did  not  last  long.  No  real  and  permanent  reconcilia- 
tion had  taken  place.  The  people  charged  Mr. 
Prentice  with  not  following  the  advice  of  the  council 
in  all  particulars.  He  replied  that  it  never  had  been 
his  intention  to  do  so,  for  the  reason  thac  it  would 
have  been  contrary  to  his  conscience.  The  church 
was  again  thrown  into  a  state  of  d.saffection.  Council 
after  council  was  held  without  any  fruitful  result. 
Painful  and  distressing  times  followed  for  the  church 
and  pastor,  until  Mr.  Prentice  made  it  known  that 

17 


"he  was  discouraged  in  his  station,"  and  would 
welcome  a  dismission.  A  council  was  called  July  10, 
1747,  by  whose  advice  he  was  dismissed.  In  his 
letter  to  this  council,  he  alludes  in  a  most  touching 
way  to  his  trials,  and  after  manifesting  a  tender  and 
loving  interest  in  the  members  of  the  church,  he 
expresses  the  hope  that  he  may  still  continue  in  the 
sacred  office  of  the  ministry,  "if  it  might  be  for  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  spiritual  good  of  His  church 
and  people."  The  Rev.  Mr.  Prentice  subsequently 
preached  in  Easton,  Bellingham,  and  Hull.  In  the 
autumn  of  1772  he  returned  to  Grafton,  and  died 
in  May  of  the  following  year  in  the  sixty-eighth  year 
of  his  age.  He  was  buried  in  the  old  cemetery  of 
the  town.  Mr.  Prentice  was  called  by  the  people 
in  his  days  a  "New  Light."  The  exact  meaning  of 
the  term  is  obscure,  but  it  is  thought  to  refer  to  the 
inner  light,  or  knowledge,  which  some  of  the  revival- 
ists and  lay  preachers  of  the  day  claimed  to  possess. 
I  have  tried  to  form  a  picture  in  my  mind  of  this 
first  minister  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Hassanimisco. 
I  think  I  understand  him  in  a  measiire.  He  was  of  a 
highly  impressionable  natm-e;  ardent,  impulsive,  and 
emotional  in  temperament,  with  a  tinge  of  mysticism. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  a  man  of  his  temperament 
should  have  been  deeply  moved  by  the  dramatic 
and  persuasive  preaching  of  Whitefield,  when  we 
remember  that  Governor  Belcher  kissed  and  wept 
over  the  great  evangelist  when  he  left  Boston. 

Solomon  Prentice  may  not  always  have  balanced 
truth  with  care,  and  he  was  doubtless  indiscreet  and 
extreme,  at  times,  in  his  religious  utterances.  That 
he  was  a  man  of  deep  spirituality,  high  ideals,  noble 
aims,  and  profoundly  anxious  to  lead  his  people  into 

18 


the  deeper  and  richer  experiences  of  the  Christian 
Ufe,  I  have  no  doubt.  He  stands  out  as  a  true,  faith- 
ful, high-minded  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.    May  his  memory  always  be  cherished. 

The  people  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Prentice  were  not 
permitted  to  choose  their  own  pews  and  seats  in  the 
meeting-house,  and  were  under  the  necessity  of 
taking  those  which  were  assigned  to  them  by  a  com- 
mittee. This  assignment  which  occurred  from 
time  to  time,  was  called  "seating  the  meeting-house," 
and  the  seats  were  assigned  to  the  congregation 
"according  to  estate  and  age."  The  seats  in  the 
box  pews  ran  around  three  sides  and  hung  on  hinges. 
During  the  long  prayer,  when  the  congregation  stood, 
they  were  raised;  and  the  youthful  attendants  hailed 
with  delight  the  general  slamming  which  was  the 
signal  that  they  could  once  more  sit  down.  The 
custom  prevailed  for  the  congregation  to  tui-n  around 
and  face  the  choir;  and  the  town  clerk  would  announce 
in  church,  for  three  successive  Sundays,  the  names  of 
those  who  intended  to  marry.  There  was  no  way 
to  heat  the  meeting-house  on  the  Common,  and  the 
people  after  the  morning  service  would  go  over  to  the 
hotel  and  warm  their  feet  before  the  great  fire  place 
with  its  blazing  logs,  and  then  go  back  to  listen  to 
the  second  sermon  in  the  afternoon.  The  music 
was  led  by  a  choir,  and  at  first,  a  violin.  The  instru- 
mental part  of  the  choir  grew  in  numbers  as  time 
went  on,  and  during  the  pastorates  of  Mr.  Miles  and 
Mr.  Biscoe,  there  was  an  orchestra  of  several  pieces, — 
a  violin,  a  base  viol,  a  cello,  and  a  clarinet. 

The  church  was  without  a  pastor  for  three  years 
after  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Prentice.  June  6, 1750,  Mr. 
Aaron  Hutchinson,  of  Hebron,  Conn.,  was  ordained 

19 


the  second  pastor  of  the  church.  He  was  graduated 
at  Yale  college,  and  was  honored  with  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  from  Harvard  and  Dartmouth  Colleges. 
He  served  the  church  for  twenty-two  years  with 
marked  ability.  He  was  a  strong  Calvinist,  severe 
in  his  theological  views,  and  inclined  at  times  to 
controversy.  He  was  an  excellent  classical  scholar, 
and  he  sometimes  carried  on  his  recitations  with 
young  men  while  ploughing  in  the  field.  He  had  a 
remarkable  memory,  and  would  often  conduct  the 
service  of  the  church  without  opening  a  book.  He 
would  ask  the  congregation  to  follow  him  with  their 
Bibles  or  hymn  books.  He  was  a  man  of  rather 
eccentric  and  brusque  manners,  which  evidently 
did  not  always  please  the  people.  It  was  during 
his  pastorate  that  the  church  adopted  the  use  of 
Watt's  Psalms  and  his  first  and  third  book  of  hymns, 
as  well  as  a  number  of  authorized  t;unes.  A  choris- 
ter was  also  chosen.  Mr.  Hutchinson  closed  his 
pastorate  November  17,  1772,  and  removed  to  Pom- 
fret,  Vt.,  where  he  supplied  various  churches  until 
his  death  September  1,  1800,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six  years. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Hutchinson  was  succeeded  in  the 
pastorate  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Grosvenor.  He  was 
born  in  Pomfret,  Conn.,  and  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1769.  He  was  settled  over  the  church  in 
Grafton  October  19,  1774.  His  ministry  covered  the 
stirring  times  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was 
an  ardent  patriot,  and  he  gave  signal  proof  of  his 
interest  in  the  cause  of  the  colonies  by  "leaving  his 
pulpit,  taking  his  musket,  and  joining  the  company 
of  minute  men  that  went  to  Cambridge  on  the  19th 
of  April."     Mr.  Grosvenor  was  a  man  of  winsome 

20 


personality.  His  manners  were  courteous,  affable,  and 
dignified.  His  fine  conversational  power,  readiness 
of  wit,  and  fund  of  anecdotes  made  him  a  great 
favorite  in  the  social  circle,  and  a  delightful  compan- 
ion. In  the  pulpit  he  was  fluent  and  vivacious. 
He  avoided  doctrinal  preaching.  The  church  was 
harmonious  under  his  ministry,  and  when  at  the 
end  of  fourteen  years  he  asked  for  a  dismission,  owing 
to  the  loss  of  his  voice,  the  request  was  granted 
with  the  greatest  reluctance.  After  Mr.  Grosvenor 
recovered  his  voice  he  preached  in  Paxton  for  eight 
years;  then  removed  to  Petersham  where  he  died 
July  1834,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four  years. 

The  church  was  without  a  settled  pastor  for  nine 
years  after  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Grosvenor.  It 
then  called  the  Rev.  John  Miles.  Mr.  Miles  was  born 
in  Westminster,  Mass.,  November  3,  1765,  and  was 
graduated  at  Brown  University,  1794.  He  was 
ordained  as  the  fourth  pastor  of  the  church  October 
12,  1796.  The  number  of  people  who  gathered  to 
witness  his  ordination  and  settlement  was  so  large 
that  the  services  were  held  in  the  open  air  on  the 
Common.  Mr.  Miles  w^as  the  minister  of  the  church 
for  thirty  years.  It  was  a  period  which  embraced, 
"beyond  doubt,  the  most  embarrassing  and  trying 
portion  of  the  history  of  the  Massachusetts  Congrega- 
tional churches,  and  under  his  ministrations  it  was 
in  a  united  and  prosperous  condition."  Mr.  Miles 
held  rather  liberal  theological  views.  The  care  of 
the  public  schools  fell  largely  to  his  supervision,  and 
he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time  to  their  interests. 

The  movement  toward  more  liberal  theological 
views  had  been  gathering  momentum  in  the  churches  of 
Massachusetts,  and  when  discussions  and  dissensions 

21 


arose  in  the  church  and  town  of  Grafton,  Mr.  Miles 
asked  to  be  dismissed.  His  pastorate  closed  October 
1825,  and  he  removed  to  Shrewsbury  where  he  lived 
until  his  death  in  March  1849,  aged  eighty-four  years. 

The  year  following  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Miles 
the  church  called,  September  21,  1826,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Searle.  Mr.  Searle  was  born  in  Rowley,  Mass., 
1797,  and  graduated  at  Princeton  College  in  1821. 
He  was  the  minister  of  this  chm'ch  for  five  and  a 
half  years.  Two  of  our  number,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W. 
Flagg  and  Mrs.  Martha  H.  Dodge,  united  with  the 
church  during  his  pastorate. 

After  eighty  years  his  gentleness  and  amiability 
are  vividly  remembered.  To  the  young  he  was 
approachable  and  friendly.  He  was  a  deeply  spirit- 
ual man.  The  conversion  of  his  people  was  a  cause 
of  constant  solicitude  and  labor.  His  eyes  would 
fill  with  tears  as  he  talked  of  the  spiritual  condition 
of  the  church.  The  following  incident  has  been  told 
me  by  one  who  clearly  remembers  it.  It  made 
a  lasting  impression  upon  her  mind.  Mr.  Searle 
was  once  speaking  to  her,  when  a  girl,  about  uniting 
with  the  church  at  a  time  when  there  was  consider- 
able religious  interest  among  the  people.  She  told 
him  that  she  might  possibly  wait  until  another 
Communion.  "Suppose  you  should  not  live  until 
another  Communion,"  was  the  reply.  His  pastorate 
of  less  than  six  years  was  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in 
the  history  of  the  church.  One  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  persons — young  and  adult — were  added  to  the 
membership.  His  ministry  was  blessed  with  one  of 
the  most  extensive  revivals  the  church  has  known. 

I  have  been  reading  recently,  a  sermon  published 
in  1828,  by  request  of  the  Grafton  and  Westborough 

22 


churches,  on  the  subject  of  Slander,  from  Prov.  26:20. 
"\ATiere  no  wood  is,  there  the  fire  goeth  out;  so  where 
there  is  no  tale-bearer,  the  strife  ceaseth."  It  indi- 
cates a  mind  of  high  order ;  a  close  student  of  human 
nature ;  and  in  diction  and  imagery  possesses  a  literary- 
charm  which  shows  Mr.  Searle  had  gone  to  the  foun- 
tains of  "English  pure  and  undefiled"  for  his  style. 
Influences  to  which  there  has  already  been  allusion, 
made  themselves  felt  in  a  more  decided  manner  dur- 
ing Mr.  Searle's  pastorate  and  finally  led  to  his  leaving 
the  church.  To  quote  from  a  brief  history  of  the 
church  pubhshed  in  1842 :  "At  the  close  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Searle's  ministry,  the  church  and  a  part  of  the 
society,  finding  that  there  was  no  probability  of  their 
continuing  to  enjoy  the  ministrations  of  an  evangel- 
ical pastor  while  connected  with  the  parish,  seceded 
from  it,  and  made  provision  for  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  in  its  purity,  by  the  erection  of  a  commodious 
house  of  worship."  Mr.  F.  C.  Pierce  in  his  admirable 
history  of  Grafton  says;  "The  church  in  a  body, 
with  a  large  minority  of  the  parish,  withdrew,  thereby 
relinquishing  their  right  as  members  of  the  First 
Congregational  Society."  Into  the  discussion  of 
this  separation  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  enter. 
We  profoundly  wish  that  it  might  never  have  hap- 
pened. That  there  were  prolonged  discussions,  ani- 
mated and  intense,  there  is  no  doubt.  But  there 
was  one  great  infelicity  in  the  whole'  system  of  church 
life'^in  Massachusetts,  in  those  days,  which  we  are 
profoundly  thankful  has  ceased  to  exist.  The  town 
was  virtually  the  parish,  and  its  inhabitants,  who  were 
assessed  for  the  support  of  religion,  had  the  legal 
right  to  vote  on  church  and  ecclesiastical  affairs. 
That  day,  most  fortunately,  has  passed.     The  separa- 

23 


tion  of  churches  into  Unitarian  and  Orthodox  went 
on  at  this  time,  throughout  New  England,  with 
considerable  rapidity.  The  Massachusetts  General 
Association  in  1836,  as  stated  by  Prof.  Williston 
Walker  in  his  History  of  Congregationahsm,  reported 
"eighty-one  cases  of  church  division,  and  property 
valued  at  $600,000  left  in  the  possession  of  the 
Unitarians."  The  men  and  women  who  felt  com- 
pelled to  go  out  from  the  original  "Church  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ"  in  old  Hassanimisco  had,  for  a  time, 
no  house  of  worship.  They  climbed  at  first,  the  stairs 
which  led  up  on  the  outside  of  the  ell  of  the  present 
home  of  Mr.  Roswell  A.  Smith,  to  a  hall  or  room  where 
they  gathered  for  their  services.  The  people  used 
to  call  it  "going  to  Upton,"  when  they  went  there 
to  worship.  Afterwards  they  held  their  services  in 
the  dance  hall  of  the  old  hotel;  and  then  upon  the 
invitation  of  the  Baptist  church,  they  worshipped  in 
the  vestry  of  that  church. 

The  Rev.  John  Wilde  was  called  to  succeed  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Searle.  Mr.  Wilde  has  born  in  Dorchester 
in  1803,  graduated  at  Middlebury  College,  Vt.,  in 
1827,  and  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in 
1831.  He  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Evangelical 
Congregational  Church,  June  20,  1832  and  resigned 
seven  years  afterwards,  and  removed  to  Conway, 
N.  H.,  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife.  He 
preached  afterwards  in  Maine,  but  his  own  health 
failing  him  he  visited  California.  On  his  return 
east  he  had  charge  of  the  Laurel  Bank  Seminary, 
Deposit,  N.  Y.,  and  subsequently  opened  a  school  in 
Stamford,  Conn.  He  was  again  compelled  to  give 
up  active  work  on  account  of  feeble  health,  and  he 
removed  with  his  wife  and  daughter  to  Alexandria, 

24 


Va.,  where  he  died  Febuary  10,  1868  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years.  He  was  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes 
as  is  shown  by  his  work  after  leaving  Grafton.  Mr. 
Wilde  married  shortly  after  his  installation,  Miss 
Julia  M.  Forbes,  the  daughter  of  Deacon  Jonathan 
Forbes  of  Westborough.  Her  father  built  the  house, 
probably  for  his  daughter,  in  which  Mr.  Arthur  A. 
Simmons  now  lives.  It  was  during  the  pastorate  of 
Mr.  Wilde  that  the  present  church  was  built  at  a  cost 
of  $8,400. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Biscoe  was  installed  the 
seventh  pastor  of  the  chui'ch  J\ily  18,  1838.  He  was 
born  in  Cambridge  July  18,  1810,  and  gi-aduated  at 
Amherst  college  in  1831.  After  teaching  one  year 
at  the  Academy  at  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  he  devoted  three 
years  to  theological  studies  and  was  hcensed  to  preach 
in  1835.  The  pastorate  of  Mr.  Biscoe  was  one  of 
signal  ability  and  large  accessions  to  the  church. 
During  the  thirty  years  of  his  pastorate  four  hundred 
and  forty  were  added  to  the  membership.  His 
pulpit  ministrations  were  of  such  a  forceful  and 
impressive  character  that  they  made  a  lasting  im- 
pression upon  those  who  heard  him.  He  was  a 
Calvinist  of  a  rather  severe  type,  and  he  delivered  his 
message  with  a  profound  sense  of  its  vast  reality  and 
solemnity.  The  people  heard  in  full,  unmuffled 
sound,  the  thunders  of  the  law.  I  sometimes  think 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  they  reverberated  a  little 
louder  in  our  day.  There  is  no  doubt  that  such 
preaching,  stiff  and  uncompromising  as  it  was,  put 
back-bone  into  men,  and  moulded  them  often,  into 
large  and  heroic  types  of  Christian  manhood.  Mr. 
Biscoe  fitted  admirably  into  an  age  and  an  atmosphere 
when  men  were  capable  of  receiving  strong  meat, 

25 


although  some  found  it,  even  then,  pretty  hard  to 
fully  digest  at  times.  He  was  a  forceful  personality. 
He  had  an  exalted  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  minister's 
position,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  make  it  known. 
Stern  as  was^his  style  of  preaching,  he  was  by  no 
means  averse  to  social  life;  and  he  was  ever  ready  to 
tell  an  anecdote,  or  indulge  in  pleasantry,  and  he 
could  laugh  right  heartily  at  a  good  joke.  He  was 
a  fine  sermonizer,  a  stimulating  preacher,  and  a 
pastor  who  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
seriousness  and  responsibility  of  his  duty.  His  is  a 
figure  which  will  always  stand  out  in  the  history  of 
the  church  in  a  commanding  way,  as  a  most  able 
and  faithful  and  successful  minister  of  the  gospel. 
On  September  29,  1868,  the  Rev.  John  H.  Wind- 
sor D.  D.,  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church.  He 
was  born  in  England  and  came  to  this  country  with 
his  parents  in  1844.  He  graduated  at  Iowa  College, 
July  12,  1854, — and  from  Andover  Theological 
Seminary  August  6,  1857.  He  labored  for  six  years, 
under  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  in  Iowa,  and 
subsequently  served  the  First  Parish  at  Saco,  Me. 
The  pastorate  of  Dr.  Windsor  was  marked  by  delight- 
ful harmony  between  minister  and  people.  He  easily 
won  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the  people  by  his 
friendliness  of  spirit,  and  the  affability  of  his  manners. 
He  mingled  dignity  with  cordiality;  pleasantry  with 
a  fine  seriousness.  The  preaching  of  Dr.  Windsor 
was  of  a  practical,  helpful  character,  and  showed  the 
influence  of  the  new  age  into  which  the  church  was 
moving.  His  week  day  addresses  are  still  remembered 
for  their  felicity,  and  close  application  to  the  experi- 
ences and  problems  of  life.  His  ministry  was  emi- 
nently successful,  and  when  he  felt  constrained  to 

26 


respond  to  the  call  of  duty  elsewhere,  it  was  with 
sincere  and  deep  regret  that  the  pastoral  relation- 
ship was  severed.  The  fragrance  of  his  memory 
still  lingers  in  the  church,  and  on  this  one  hundred 
and  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  church  he  served 
for  sixteen  years  so  honorably,  and  faithfully,  and 
fruitfully,  we  send  to  him  in  his  home  in  La  Grange, 
111.,  our  heartfelt  thanks  for  all  he  wTought  while 
here,  and  offer  the  prayer  that  his  pathway  may 
have  across  it  the  golden  light  of  a  peaceful  age,  and 
the  blessed  presence  of  Him  who  walked  in  the  vesper 
hours  toward  Emmaus,  and  filled  with  speechless 
joy  the  companions  at  His  side. 

Of  all  the  pastors  who  have  served  this  church  it 
was  my  privilege  to  know  personally  but  one — the 
beloved  Rev.  Benjamin  Adams  Robie,  who  ministered 
to  this  people  from  1884  until  1900,  a  period  of  sixteen 
years.  Mr.  Robie  was  called  to  this  church  from 
Groton,  Mass.,  where  he  had  labored  for  ten  years 
with  signal  ability.  I  met  him  for  the  first  time 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  ago.  The  longer  I  knew  him 
the  more  strongly  was  I  drawn  to  him.  The  gracious- 
ness  of  his  manner,  the  refinement  of  his  bearing, 
the  sweetness  of  his  spirit,  the  generosity  and  fineness 
of  his  treatment  of  one  younger  than  he, — all  this 
has  left  a  beautiful  and  ineffaceable  impression  on 
my  mind.  It  was  always  a  pleasure  to  me  to  be 
in  his  society.  There  was  such  an  innate  delicacy  of 
manner;  such  a  high  toned  and  manly  attitude  to- 
ward life;  such  seriousness  of  survey  of  different 
questions;  such  unusual  attractiveness  of  personality 
that  I  have  never  ceased  to  cherish  his  memory.  I 
have  frequently  said  to  myself  since  knowing  him, 
what  the  Rev.  George  A.  Putnam  said  at  his  funeral : 

27 


"He  had  so  many  excellencies  that  I  had  not,  that  I 
could  always  put  myself  to  school  to  him  to  my  pro- 
fit." Mr.  Robie  was  a  popular,  attractive  preacher. 
He  rarely  preached  doctrinal  sermons.  They  were 
eminently  practical,  and  related  themselves  to  every 
day  hving.  "The  man  is  the  style,"  a  great  French 
writer  once  said,  and  this  held  true  of  our  dear  friend. 
He  was  not  by  temperament  nor  taste,  a  doctrinal 
preacher.  He  was  a  noble  knight,  clothed  in  shining 
mail,  who  rode  abroad  with  high  chivalric  spirit  to 
fight  the  battles  of  his  Lord,  and  to  bring  in  the 
sweet  days  of  righteousness. 

It  was  during  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Robie  that 
the  splendid  improvements  were  initiated  and  carried 
out  at  a  cost  of  $11,000,  which  have  made  our  church 
one  of  unusual  beauty.  The  whole  interior  of  the 
church,  floor  and  galleries,  was  taken  out,  leaving 
only  the  walls  of  the  old  church  standing.  When 
the  people  resumed  their  services,  they  met  amid  the 
dehcate  and  harmonious  colors  of  a  new  Sanctuary, 
whose  memorial  windows,  the  gifts  of  many  friends, 
lend  a  distinct  and  perpetual  beauty  to  our  house 
of  worship. 

It  is,  after  all,  but  an  imperfect  sketch  of  this 
church  and  its  historic  life  which  I  have  given  you 
this  morning.  There  is  much  more  that  might  be 
said.  I  am  profoundly  conscious  that  it  is  not  the 
minister  alone,  who  has  kept  the  flame  of  faith  burn- 
ing in  its  golden  candle-stick  through  these  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  years.  There  has  been  a 
long  line  of  devout,  efficient  and  praying  men,  and 
a  multitude  of  saintly  women  who  have  created, 
from  generation  to  generation,  the  atmosphere  and 
environment  in  which  the  Church  of  the  Living  God 

28 


has  been  able  to  radiate  its  influence.  There  have 
been  teachers  in  the  Sunday  School,  and  Superin- 
tendents, who  have  stood  by  their  tasks  with  a 
fidelity,  a  courage,  and  a  patience  which  will  not 
go  without  their  rich  reward.  There  have  been 
players  on  stringed  instruments,  and  singers  with 
sweet  voices,  who  have  refreshed  many  a  weary  pil- 
grim on  his  journey  Zion-ward,  who  deserve  to  be 
remembered  for  their  loving  and  self-sacrificing  labors. 
How  beautiful  it  would  be  to  call  each  one  by  name 
this  morning,  and  express  our  gratitude  for  their 
part  in  the  service  of  the  King.  He  who  keeps  His 
loved  ones  written,  as  it  were,  on  the  palms  of  His 
hands,  knows  them  all.  He  it  is  who  has  promised: 
"Be  thou  faithful  unto  death  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life." 


29 


